New budget plan in D.C. would ban horse slaughter

5:18 PM,
Jan. 14, 2014

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The massive spending bill unveiled Monday night by top congressional negotiators would effectively reinstate a federal ban on slaughtering horses for human consumption, unraveling the plans of Gallatin-based Rains Natural Meats to open an equine processing plant in Missouri.

The tiny provision takes up about 10 lines of the 1,582-page bill, but it was the focus of an intense lobbying battle.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., fought against the provision but couldn't muster the votes to strip it out. ...